“The Fades” Series 1 Blu-Ray Review
BBC America has been doing great recently bringing quality UK shows to the US. What they haven’t been great at though is bringing them to cable on demand in HD. I know this because I tried very hard to watch The Fades on on demand, but the standard quality video mixed with the dark lighting and color tones made it nearly impossible to enjoy. I could tell though that underneath there was a quality show so I of course jumped at the chance to get my hands on a copy of series 1 on blu-ray to review. I’m glad I did because it is a really good show.
The Fades is about Paul (Iain De Caestecker, Coronation Street) a geeky and awkward 17 year old who it turns out is an Angelic, a being with special powers that allow him to see ghosts trapped on earth known as Fades. Fades can not be seen, heard, or touched by regular people but one fade in particular has found a way to change that and in doing so is mounting a war against the humans.
The key to the show though is the intricately interwoven cast of supporting characters featuring Paul’s mother (Claire Rishbrook, Doctor Who), twin sister Anna (Lily Loveless, Skins), love interest Jay (Sophie Wu, Sucker Punch), Angelic mentor Neil (Johnny Harris, This is England ’86), history teacher Mark (Tom Ellis, Doctor Who), and best friend Mac (Daniel Kaluuya, Skins)
Mac is the really stand out character of the show and can be easily described as someone who would hang out in the forums of this very website. He speaks in movie and geek references and not only provides much needed comic relief, but gives, at least this viewer, a character on which to hang the hat of relate-ability. It makes sense then that the special features on the blu-ray would mainly focus on his character.
The blu-ray features the standard set of special features: Behind the Scenes, Outtakes and Deleted scenes, but it also features 2 sections that focus heavily on Mac. The first is the “Mac Explains” web videos.
These shorts feature Daniel Kaluuya in character explaining aspects of the show such as “What are the Fades?” and “What are Angelics?” I believe they originally aired on the BBC3 website and in the context of marketing the show while it was running on television they make a lot of sense. Have the favorite character explain the details directly to the audience. Except that I feel that they are executed kind of poorly. None of what makes the character funny or interesting comes through in these videos and we’re left with what is essentially an actor reading wikipedia pages. It’s great that they are included on the blu-ray for posterity’s sake, but for anyone who actually watches they show they don’t add anything as the concepts are explained pretty clearly in the narrative.
I did however enjoy the extra scenes included on the blu-ray. I don’t know exactly what constitutes an “extra scene” as opposed to a “deleted scene,” but these extra scenes highlight the friendship between Paul and Mac as they sit and have geeky conversations in their local café that could easily have come out of a Kevin Smith movie. I would say that if anything was missing from the series as a whole it would have to be more moments like these extra scenes. While the relationship between Mac and Paul is definitely fully realized within the context of the series the quieter moments of them simply geeking out and being teenaged boys would have still been very appreciated.
The Fades is a great show. The episodes run a little slow and long in places, but the mythology being created is a fairly rich and interesting one. There are some great surprises that happen throughout the course of the series as well that I would be remiss to spoil here. If you are a fan of the current crop of supernatural shows running on British television these days such as Being Human or Bedlam I highly suggesting picking up this set and giving it a whirl. I don’t think you will be disappointed.
The Fades, series 1 is out now on 2-disc DVD and Blu-Ray for an MSRP of $34.98 and $39.98 respectively.
